


you lost your shoes as it started to rain

by togetherwecouldbealright



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-28
Updated: 2013-09-28
Packaged: 2017-12-27 20:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/983087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/togetherwecouldbealright/pseuds/togetherwecouldbealright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>harry works in an american bakery but he doesn't know what scones are and he somehow meets a british boy named louis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you lost your shoes as it started to rain

**Author's Note:**

> literally today my english teacher said hey write a story about making decisions and it has to be short so i did and i based the characters off louis and harry so i just switched the names and now you all have a oneshot so enjoy? bakery au because reasons. that's it.
> 
> dedicated to the love of my life aka miya and to claudia. yes, that is all.

The thing is that Harry has worked in this bakery practically his entire life. Well, no, okay, not his _entire_ life or even a quarter of it but it’s been a good year or two yet he’s never seen the boy standing in front of him, ever.

Well, in the greater scheme of things, he supposes that’s not really as uncommon as he makes it seem. But, that isn’t the point, not really.

The point is that Harry works at the bakery on the campus of his university and he likes to think that he’s met everyone important enough to meet. Clearly, he’s very mistaken because the boy in front of him is looking up at their tiny menu and Harry still doesn’t know who in the world he is.

It’s a bit of a problem.

When he first walked in, Harry didn’t even so much as look up. However, when he finally did, he hit his elbow on the counter in surprise and now it really hurts and Harry regrets all the decisions in the past nineteen years of his life that led up to this moment.

The boy is really pretty is the thing. He has nice cheekbones and even nicer eyelashes that fan out against them. His caramel colored hair is swept over his forehead in a both messy and casual fashion but Harry can still see his blue eyes underneath it.

Harry also realizes he’s been staring for a good five minutes and he’s probably coming off as much creepier than he’d like. Luck isn’t in his favor today.

When the boy finally speaks, Harry is glad he’s holding on to the counter otherwise, he probably would have made a bigger fool of himself.

Not only is the boy ridiculously pretty but he’s _British_ and his voice is whimsical and Harry really is questioning fate’s choices for him.

“I’ll have a scone please,” The boy tells Harry and then he smiles—there are crinkles by his eyes. Harry think that strictly speaking, he’s more in love than he has any right to be.

Then it registers what the boy is asking for and Harry has no idea what the boy is ordering because it’s definitely not on the menu and Harry bakes quite a bit, yet he’s never heard of it. “A what?”

The boy frowns and Harry immediately feels horrible. This boy doesn’t deserve to be anything but happy. Perhaps Harry is a bit bias to pretty British boys but that’s his own business.

“A scone? Do you not have those in America?” The boy wonders, his lips forming a thin line that is just on the right side of disappointed.

Harry shakes his head slowly and the boy sighs. If Harry is being honest, the boy’s sigh rings like music in his ears and seriously, Harry has no idea when he turned into such a creep.

“Well that proper kills. How about muffins? Do you have those?” The boy asks hopefully and he bounces in the front of the counter as if he can’t stand in place and the motion is cuter than it has any right to be.

Harry realizes with a start that the boy is a good few inches shorter than him and he finds it oddly endearing. Also, he’s a bit of a giant at six feet so it’s not saying much but, still he starts to smile at the way the other boy could reach up on his tiptoes and still be shorter than Harry is.

“We do in fact,” Harry confirms and he has to bite his lip to keep from smiling too widely. When he does, his dimples pop out and while he doesn’t hate his dimples or anything, he doesn’t love them either.

He sees the beginnings of a smile on his boy’s face again as he ducks his head shyly. “Can I have a cinnamon one?” The boy murmurs quietly and he looks up at Harry through his ridiculously long eyelashes and Harry wants to melt on the spot.

He can’t really help it when he blurts, “If I can know your name,” and immediately he’s embarrassed for himself but he doesn’t take it back, instead keeping his face impassive other than the quirk of his eyebrow.

The boy looks up and he blinks twice before a slow grin curls at the corners of his lips. “I was expecting for you to ask for money, but I suppose I can give you my name instead,” The boy relents and if Harry was any crazier, he’d swear the boy’s eyes are twinkling.

“How about both?” Harry offers meekly, placing his hands on the counter as he looks down at the boy who shakes his head slightly, laughing.

“Alright,” He allows and he hesitates only a few seconds before he says, “Louis,” quietly but he hasn’t looked away from Harry and he’s still smiling.

“My name’s Harry. But you can see that on my apron so—am I being redundant?” Harry worries, eyes wide before Louis laughs at him again and his laugh is cute if Harry says so himself.

“You’re just fine,” Louis reassures before he reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a wallet. Harry figures he should busy himself with getting Louis his muffin so he does just that, sorting through before he finally finds one that he deems to be good enough for the pretty boy.

And this isn’t a thing that happens often—that pretty boys come in and smile at him. It’s rather uncommon actually. Harry is putting this all down to fate because why else would Louis have decided to step into his bakery (which isn’t really even his, it’s the owner Barbara’s but he figures that it’s kind of his too, in the way he knows how the bench in the second booth squeaks if you bounce enough and in the way that he knows how it looks during sunrise and how he knows what it looks like with this pretty boy standing in it, basking in the sunlight coming in from the slanted windows) and order a scone?

That’s what makes Harry wonder if he should do more than the mild flirting jig he’s trying to do—and failing at. Wondering whether he should take the next step or whether Louis has even noticed his subtle hints.

Harry’s not good at making decisions. He’s awful at them, really. He’s irresponsible and erratic and a bundle of energy and he never knows what to expect next. He lets things happen on their own and he never does what he wants because more often than not, things don’t go his way.

He’s not a big believer in fate and soul mates or anything of that sort but he can’t help but give in to the burning in his chest that says something’s different here.

Harry’s bones are hollow in the only way they know how to be—the multitude of empty spaces inside the puzzle that is him is too many too count. And it’s not a bad thing, it’s never been a bad thing.

It just means Harry hasn’t met who he has to and he hasn’t found the missing pieces that would complete him and the thing is, it’s never been a problem before.

But this boy walked in and he’s making Harry question his entire existence and that’s definitely not normal considering they’ve said all of twenty words to each other.

He only just remembers he’s supposed to be giving Louis a muffin when the shorter boy clears his throat and Harry immediately looks up, confused for a second.

It happens more often than he’d like to admit—this thing where he gets lost in his own thoughts and some days, that's not a pretty place to be. They’re dark and they hold his deepest secrets but today, they’re quite lovely.

“Oh, erm, yeah. It’ll be two dollars,” Harry says, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. It doesn’t do anything to help. In fact, it only worsens the condition of his hair and he reaches up to push his dark curls out of his eyes.

Louis nods, sliding the money over the counter and Harry reaches out to take it. He goes to bag the muffin before he falters, looking over at Louis. “To go or to stay?” He asks and if he sends a silent plea to the Heavens, well, it is what it is.

“Um, to stay, I suppose?” Louis settles on before sliding into one of the high chairs against the counters. Harry couldn’t keep the smile even if he tried.

He brings the muffin over before he pauses in front of Louis. He decides he’s got nothing to really lose here so he might as well take a chance.

“Are you a new student?” Harry asks, acting nonchalant as he wipes aimlessly at the counter. There’s no other customers other than the two girls in the back, studying across from each other. It’s still early and most people are either asleep or in their classes.

Louis looks up, a piece of his muffin in between his fingers. “Yeah, for the exchange program,” Louis explains, shrugging before offering Harry a small smile.

Harry returns the smile easily, stopping in front of Louis. “You staying long?”

Louis shrugs again then. “Probably. I kind of like America. Even though there’s no scones,” Louis teases with a pout and Harry nearly giggles.

“I don’t know what that is but I apologize on behalf of America,” Harry tells him and he’s actually debating whether it would be wrong to try to slip the boy his number somehow or if he would come off too strong.

Louis looks affronted as Harry’s lack of knowledge, his entire face pinching up and it’s more adorable than anything else. And yeah, he’ll admit it—he wants to kiss the look right off Louis’ face but he doesn’t do anything except shrug, fixing the strap of his apron.

They don’t say much of anything else but Harry can’t help the glances he steals every few seconds and there are times that he catches Louis staring back and that makes him flush red before he turns away only to repeat the process seconds later.

One of Harry’s mix CDs are playing as the background music and at times he’ll catch Louis bopping his head along and that only furthers Harry’s interest in the boy.

It’s all really ridiculous and Harry feels like a thirteen year old girl with her first crush and he makes his decision that he’s not going to let Louis walk out the store without giving him his number or _someway_ to contact him. He’ll let Louis make the choice if he actually wants to use Harry’s number.

Because he wants to know Louis. He wants to know what Louis likes and what he doesn’t and how he prefers to drink his tea and whether he hogs the blankets at night and just like _a lot_.

However, it doesn’t work out the way he planned.

Instead, in the spare second he goes to the back to get a tray of oatmeal cookies to set out in the front, Louis is gone.

It leaves a sinking feeling in Harry’s stomach and he frowns, putting the tray away. He didn’t expect _much_ but he expected at least a goodbye. He didn’t even hear the door ding when Louis left and it all just feels like fate let him down.

Harry just sighs to himself and goes to retrieve the plate that Louis ate the muffin on only to pause when he sees a piece of paper next to it.

He grabs the paper first, squinting to make out the tiny words scrawled on.

_text me sometime ! ;)_

_19149392045_

_louis xx_

It’s safe to say that the smile doesn’t leave Harry’s face for the rest of the day and neither does the smile when two years later they reminisce on the day they met in the bakery, stumbling over their own words and how they had no idea how in love they’d be one day.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos make me happyhappyhappy. :)


End file.
